I guess I should add the caveat that this is all unofficial at this point. The whole schedule was apparently taken from a page at the NFL site that was not properly secured...if I recall they normally make the schedule public right around draft day, so we'll see if this holds up.

"I believe it is the nature of the human species to reject what is true but unpleasant and to embrace what is obviously false but comforting." H.L. Mencken

Love the Thursday and Monday nighters but 4 out of 5 on the road at the end sucks. I love the home cold weather games. Last year we didn't really have any. It could be two years in a row with no frozen beers and long johns.

yogi wrote:I thought that starting last year that the last 2 weeks of the seaon HAD to be divisional opponents. If we play Chiefs next to last game of year, that doesnt fit in.

I say fake.

Just the last week of the season. Cincy played Arizona last year and Pitt played St. Louis on the 2nd to last week. With that being said, schedule looks fake. Seattle - Detroit on Week 3 of MNF? the Browns with 2 Prime time games? The Steelers with 5 of first 6 games on the road? Although Week 14's Thursday night matchup will definitely be prime time somehow - Tebow and Jets visit Jacksonville.

Don't know if anyone has clicked at the link in the original post recently, but the person who put this schedule out there has admitted that it's a complete MOCK schedule, made up by Sum Guy. (sorry I got sucked in along with a few hundred thousand others)

But regardless....yes, Hiko, we'll be back tomorrow with more whining and pessimism.

"I believe it is the nature of the human species to reject what is true but unpleasant and to embrace what is obviously false but comforting." H.L. Mencken

You could assume any number from 2-9 and have as much credence as any other guess in that range.

These won't be the 2011 version of those teams. Some will suck more than expected. Some will be better. Some will have key injuries (who looked at the 2011 schedule and thought the Colts would be one of the wins?). They'll win some games they should lose. They'll lose some they should win. Que sera sera.

Hikohadon wrote:You could assume any number from 2-9 and have as much credence as any other guess in that range.

These won't be the 2011 version of those teams. Some will suck more than expected. Some will be better. Some will have key injuries (who looked at the 2011 schedule and thought the Colts would be one of the wins?). They'll win some games they should lose. They'll lose some they should win. Que sera sera.

9? Really? If I reallllllllllllllllly stretch it, I get 7 (one W v. the Bungles), but how could you get 9?

Good God, how did we get so much worse than in 2010? Not that we were good then but at least things felt like they were going in the right direction.

Fuck, there might've been times in 2010 when it felt like they were improving, but the last 4 games of 2010 were much more depressing than the last 4 of 2011. At the end of '10, I'd already lost faith in Colt and realized the entire season was a complete waste b/c Holmgren moronically kept Dead Man Walking on as coach.

Hikohadon wrote:You could assume any number from 2-9 and have as much credence as any other guess in that range.

These won't be the 2011 version of those teams. Some will suck more than expected. Some will be better. Some will have key injuries (who looked at the 2011 schedule and thought the Colts would be one of the wins?). They'll win some games they should lose. They'll lose some they should win. Que sera sera.

9? Really? If I reallllllllllllllllly stretch it, I get 7 (one W v. the Bungles), but how could you get 9?

Because I'm not dumb enough to pretend like I know how the season will go.

Did I expect the '07 Browns to win more than 4 games? Nope. They did anyway.

Do I EXPECT them to win 9? Hell no. That would be if they improved a lot and a lot of the teams they played were significantly worse than anticipated and had some key injuries, preferably at the QB spot.

But checking down the list in April and assuming you know how the games in December will go is fucking stupid.

Saying "Oh, they will only win 2 games! Boo hoo hoo!" is just as dumb as saying "9-7 baby! Wooooo!"

Hikohadon wrote:You could assume any number from 2-9 and have as much credence as any other guess in that range.

These won't be the 2011 version of those teams. Some will suck more than expected. Some will be better. Some will have key injuries (who looked at the 2011 schedule and thought the Colts would be one of the wins?). They'll win some games they should lose. They'll lose some they should win. Que sera sera.

9? Really? If I reallllllllllllllllly stretch it, I get 7 (one W v. the Bungles), but how could you get 9?

Because I'm not dumb enough to pretend like I know how the season will go.

Did I expect the '07 Browns to win more than 4 games? Nope. They did anyway.

Do I EXPECT them to win 9? Hell no. That would be if they improved a lot and a lot of the teams they played were significantly worse than anticipated and had some key injuries, preferably at the QB spot.

But checking down the list in April and assuming you know how the games in December will go is fucking stupid.

Saying "Oh, they will only win 2 games! Boo hoo hoo!" is just as dumb as saying "9-7 baby! Wooooo!"

I didn't expect to get hit by a truck this morning, so I'm going to ramp up the Douche and act holier than thou with my opinion that cutting off Semis on I-80 is a bad idea.

Even with your theory (which isn't wrong) the season evens out in the end. We'll beat a team we lost to last year and lose to a team we think we can beat on paper this year. Either way, I find it difficult to justify more than 4-5 wins "on paper" right now. This is all we have to go by at the moment.

Hikohadon wrote:You could assume any number from 2-9 and have as much credence as any other guess in that range.

These won't be the 2011 version of those teams. Some will suck more than expected. Some will be better. Some will have key injuries (who looked at the 2011 schedule and thought the Colts would be one of the wins?). They'll win some games they should lose. They'll lose some they should win. Que sera sera.

9? Really? If I reallllllllllllllllly stretch it, I get 7 (one W v. the Bungles), but how could you get 9?

Because I'm not dumb enough to pretend like I know how the season will go.

Did I expect the '07 Browns to win more than 4 games? Nope. They did anyway.

Do I EXPECT them to win 9? Hell no. That would be if they improved a lot and a lot of the teams they played were significantly worse than anticipated and had some key injuries, preferably at the QB spot.

But checking down the list in April and assuming you know how the games in December will go is fucking stupid.

Saying "Oh, they will only win 2 games! Boo hoo hoo!" is just as dumb as saying "9-7 baby! Wooooo!"

I didn't expect to get hit by a truck this morning, so I'm going to ramp up the Douche and act holier than thou with my opinion that cutting off Semis on I-80 is a bad idea.

Even with your theory (which isn't wrong) the season evens out in the end. We'll beat a team we lost to last year and lose to a team we think we can beat on paper this year. Either way, I find it difficult to justify more than 4-5 wins "on paper" right now. This is all we have to go by at the moment.

Right. I'm just going to say 6, which is probably only a couple plays here or there from different than 4-5.

So, from 6 (my expectation), why should I be shocked by them winning/losing 3 games more/less than that? With the volatility of the NFL, with the ups and downs of teams, with just dumb luck... I reiterate that any guess within a certain practical range has as much validity as anything else. I see that practical range as 2 to 9, with 2 and 9 both pushing my bounds of believability. But "on paper" don't mean shit, and there's nothing to justify since nothing can be justified.

Just drives me nuts what they're doing on the NFL Network right now, going down the schedule and giving teams wins and losses, which is especially ridiculous since I just heard Mariucci give the Redskins a victory over the Bengals when he earlier gave the Bengals a win of the Redskins.

Gradysmanldy wrote:I'll see your 0-16, and raise you a 3-13 that PLEASE MOTHER OF GOD means we get a stud QB in next year's draft.

Either way, that early schedule is going to lead to a lot of empty seats in a hurry. Brutal.

See, I thought the 2nd half looked harder.

The first half (9 games before the bye) has 5 home games and features only 2 teams that were really good in 2011 and no teams that I'd be shocked if they beat except NYG (since they almost beat the Ravens last year with what I assume was an inferior team to what they'll have this year).

Hikohadon wrote:You could assume any number from 2-9 and have as much credence as any other guess in that range.

These won't be the 2011 version of those teams. Some will suck more than expected. Some will be better. Some will have key injuries (who looked at the 2011 schedule and thought the Colts would be one of the wins?). They'll win some games they should lose. They'll lose some they should win. Que sera sera.

9? Really? If I reallllllllllllllllly stretch it, I get 7 (one W v. the Bungles), but how could you get 9?

Let me respond in a less irritable way (which I believe is residue from having to listen to Michael Irvin and the fact that I'm still working)...

The 2011 Browns won 4 games. There were 3 games they won that they very realistically could've lost (JAX, MIA, SEA).

There were 7 games they lost that they very realistically could've won (CINx2, PITx2, BAL, STL, ARI).

If the 2011 Browns went all Tebow-Broncos last year and won every close contest they were in, they would've won 11 games. If they lost every game they could've lost, they would've won 1 game. 1 to 11 was thus the range.

But that range is very impractical, since no team wins every close game and no team loses every close game. It usually evens out. That's why I put a range of 2 to 9, with 2 wins and 9 wins both bordering on illogical but not impossible circumstances.

The closer you get to the center of that range, the safer the bet.

And that's with the 2011 Browns, who I think all but the most diehard pessimist would believe to be likely inferior to the 2012 Browns (depending highly on the draft).

I didn't even bother looking at who they play do determine this range since the quality and circumstances of those opponents is unknowable - they could play Cincy and Buffalo and Minnesota every week and I'd still put them in the 2-9 range, b/c my guesswork is based purely on who they were last year and who they will likely be this year. I compare them to the league as a whole rather than to individual opponents that are at this point (especially in pre-draft April) as smoggy as LA.

Please don't mistake my take as a 9 win prediction, rather as an attempt at logic.

The answer is 6-10. I'd elaborate but I don't feel like it and I don't want to spoil it for anyone else who actually enjoys watching the games. The best part for me is I won't need to ruin 17 Sundays.

And I can get a head start on the 2013 draft. In a few weeks I will hopefully be ready to unveil what I will irritatingly refer to as "my draft board", and say asshole things like "right now I have Biglesworth McGoo at #7 on my board."

motherscratcher wrote:All of you guys with your ridiculous predictions.

The answer is 6-10. I'd elaborate but I don't feel like it and I don't want to spoil it for anyone else who actually enjoys watching the games. The best part for me is I won't need to ruin 17 Sundays.

And I can get a head start on the 2013 draft. In a few weeks I will hopefully be ready to unveil what I will irritatingly refer to as "my draft board", and say asshole things like "right now I have Biglesworth McGoo at #7 on my board."

That's fuckin' nuts. I don't have McGoo any higher than the 2nd round.

please..don't flame. I'm just struggling to find a team that we're honestly better than in the NFL right at this moment.

It's not a pessimistic take, it's not one to whine of. We don't have a QB, We've got a lameduck head coach, and an offense that's just not there yet.

Now, this could all change by draft time, and maybe, who knows, somehow maybe Colt makes the leap to becoming a decent, Blackmon or Richardson goes AP/Fitz and helps this team out that much, or something truly bizarre happens. It's not out of the picture, just as it stands now, we're not even a .500 football team atm

Swerb wrote:Go start a blog if you want to tell the world your incomprehendible ramblings.

Cerebral_DownTime wrote:I have a big arm and can throw the ball pretty damn far...... maybe even over those moutains. The Browns should sign me, i'll let you all in locker room to drink beer. Then we can all go out the parking lot to watch me do motorcycle stunts.